Velocity indicator



April '11, 1961 c, W LL 2,979,623

VELOCITY INDICATOR Filed June 26, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet l f 2 Q A CL 44 dlf E FIG. I.

A e d4 /2 dt xsfgrzfi 5 0L5 5f X5M/4 FIG 2.

v INVENTOR.

EDWARD JOSEPH CHALKER FOWELL BY aafamr 9 ATTORNEYS April, 11, 1961 Filed June 26, 1959 E. J. C. FOWELL VELOCITY INDICATOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

EDWARD JOSEPH CHALKER FOWELL CZJ W 30 4 ATTORNEYS United States Patent VELOCITY INDICATOR Edward J. C. Fowell, Manchester, England, assignor to National Research Development Corporation, London, England, a corporation of Great Britain Filed June 26, 1959, Ser. No. 823,149

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 26, 1958 5 Claims. (Cl. 250-220) I applicable to automatic control systems for machine tools a and the like where the information of required and actual v 2,979,623 Patented Apr. 11, 19s1 counting is taking place and, also, any small movements within the discrete intervals of indication do not give rise to any reading at all.

According to the invention there is provided electronic apparatus for indicating the velocity and direction of motion of a body relative to another body comprising a signal generator actuated by relative motion of the said movements of the machine part to be controlled is in digital form.

Where the movement of the machine part is obtained by a simple servo mechanism loop it often happens that the phase lag through the components of the loop is such that hunting or oscillation of the machine part will occur. ing this undesirable movement such as increasing the mechanical damping of one or more of the components or modifying or adding a component. These remedies however are not always entirely satisfactory, especially under conditions of intense vibration.

In such systems, stability can be improved if a velocity signal from the controlled member is fed into the digital controller so that when the member moves the to a control signal the velocity signal will reduce the control signal, and may, even reverse the control signal, before the controlled member reaches the desired position whereby themember is decelerated before it reaches its desired position.

If the member is moving only very slowly or is stationary then resistance to unwanted movement is obtained partly from inertia and friction and partly from the corrective action of the servo loop. In many cases the latter may preponderate. If, under these conditions, the mem- Various methods exist for reducing or eliminat- 0nd signal and the first signal.

her is pushed, 'as for instance, by the cutting tool, no resistt I ance will arise from the servo system until a signal is obtained from the movement monitoring equipment of. the table. The uncontro-lledrmovement will beofthesame order as the dimension represented bya digital unit of the movement monitoring means. For the most eff cient control it is desirable to inject vinto the digital controller an instantaneous velocity and direction signal in such a sense as to oppose the unwanted movement of the member. i

Methods at present inuse for obtaining velocity in- 1- formation with direction indication, suffer from. various defects. In one method .where a rotary generator is used, for instance, any elasticity or backlash in the drive to the generator will cause distortion of the output signal.

Furthermore if the generator is of the DC. type its life is I restricted due to commutator and brush wear; alterna tively where the rotary generator is pf the A.Q. type, the method is, restricted in practice to'usein ALC. car rier type servo systems.

In a further method of velocity v.

indication, pulses are obtained from a diffraction grating system on the machine, the number of pulses oc-' curring in a given time or the time taken ;.to collectfa given number of pulses, being evaluated by an electronic pulse ratemeter. This-method suffers from the disadvantage thatthere is a time lapse in the system'when the bodies to generate a first signal and a second signal each of sine wave form and in substantially quadrature phase relationship with one another and a differentiator, means for feeding the said first signal to the dilferentiator, means for combining the output of the dilferentiator with the said second signal in a manner such as to produce a resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitude equal to that of the difierentiated first signal and-having an instantaneous polarity corresponding to the polarity of the product of the differentiated first signal and the second signal whereby the amplitude of the said resultant signal .is a measure of the velocity and the polarity of the said resultant signal is an indication of the direction of the said relative motion. V

Preferably the second signal is passed to a second dif ferentiator, the output of which is combined with the first signal so as to produce a resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitude equal to that of the differentiated second signal and an instantaneous polarity corresponding to that of the product of the differentiated sec- The two resultant signals are combined to give anoutput signal indicating the instantaneous velocity and direction of movement of the moving member having a low ripple component.

According to the invention, therefore, there is further provided apparatus for indicating the velocity and direction of motion of a body relative to another body cornprising a signal generator, actuated by relative motion between the said bodies to generate a first and a second signal each of sine wave form and in substantially quadrature phase relationship, a first difierentiator and a second diflerentiator, means for feeding the said-first signal to the first diir'erentiator, means for combining the output of the first ditferentiator with the second signal to produce a first resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitude proportional to that of the differentiated first signal and an instantaneous polarity corresponding to that of the product of the differentiated first signal and the second SignaL'means for feeding the said second sig' nal to the second differentiator, means for combiningthe output of the second difierentiator with the first signal to produce a second resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitude proportional to that-of the difierentiatedsecond signal and an instantaneous polarity corresponding tothat of the product of the differentiated second-signal and the first signal, means for combining the two re: sultant signals to give an output signal the instantaneous amplitude of which output signal is a measure of the velocity and the instantaneous 'polarity which output signal is' an indication of the direction of the said relative motion between the said bodies. a i f According to'the invention there is still further provided apparatus for indicating the velocity and direction of motion of a body relative to another body comprising a signal generator,- actuated by'relative motion between the said two bodies to generate a first and a second signal each of sine wave form andin substantiallyquadrature phase relationship, a first difierentiator and a second differentiator,,meafns"for-feeding the'saidfirst signal to the first differentiator, a first multiplier, means for combining theoutput from the first difierentiator with the sec 0nd signal in the first multiplier to produce" a first re-' sultant signal havingaginstantaneous amplitude proportional to that 'of the differentiatedfir'st signal and an instantaneous polarity corresponding to that of the product of the diiierentiated first signal and the second signal, means for feeding the said second signal to the second di fterentiator, a second multiplier, means for combining the output from the second diiferei i tiator with the first signal in the multiplier to produce 'afse ohd resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitudeproportional to that of the differentiated second signal and an instantaneous polarity corresponding to that of the product of the ditferentiated second signal and the first signal, means for combining the two resultant signals to give an output signal, the instantaneous amplitude'of said output signal being a measure of the velocityfof the said relative motion between the said two bodiesfand'the instantaneous polarity of said output signal being' an indication oi the direction of the said relative motion between the said two bodies, the said output signal" having a low-ripple component. i f

The invention will be more readily understood from the following description ofan embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: Y Figure l is an ideal circuit giving: an exact indication of velocity and direction. t

Figure 2 is a circuit giving a substantially correct velocity indication and a correct direction indication.

Figure 3 is a more detailed drawing of the circuit of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a series of diagrams showing the wave forms at various points in the circuit in Figure 3.

In certain systems for the automatic control of a machine tool the monitoring of relative movement between certain parts such as a slide, the movement of which is to be automatically controlled, and its slideway, is effected by means of two optical diffraction gratings. one may be fixed to the controlled member and will extend the length of the maximum movement of this member. The second grating may be fixed to the machine bed and will be quite short. The second grating is set with its rulings at a slight angle to the rulings of the first grating and in such a relative position that a light beam from a convenient source passes through both gratings, moir interference fringes or, bands being produced. When the controlled member and thus the first grating is moved, then the moir fringes will move bodily in the direction of the rulings of the gratings. Two slits are arranged adjacent to the gratings so that the light passing through the gratings passes through the slits and impinges on two signal generators, for example photoelectric cells. The light value of the beam passing through the slits when movement takes p a e between the gratings 'will be of a substantially sinusoidal wave form, the outputs from the signal generators being of the sameform. The two slits are so positioned that the output signalsof the two signal generators are in quadrature phase, relationship.

These two output signals are conveniently called A- and B in the figures and description.

The two signals can be used to give an exact instantaneous indication of velocity and direction in a manner which can be explained mathematically as follows:

If a and b are amplitude constants, and A andB are the instantaneous signal values,

x=distance moved by controlled member, t=grating line separation-+21 The first I is taken as the controlled member velocity V then 25k 22,; 2 dt d2: at x A and @24 2 an -9 2 dt T dx dz' x x then dB dA a.b.V. 2 g a.b.V. 2 E a?- 005 A+ A BID A a.b.V. 2 g z z 7\ (cos {s1n Thus dB dA a.b V ar ar x X velocity of the controlled member Thus A schematic circuit for carrying out this function is shown in Figure 1, the signals A and B being differentiated in difterentiators 1 and 3 respectively, the output from the difierentiator 1 being multiplied by the signal B in multiplier 2, the output from diflerentiator 3 being similarly multiplied by signal A in multiplier 4.

The voltage difference between outputs of the multipliers Z and 4 at terminals 5 and 6, is an exact indication of the instantaneous velocity and direction of movement of the controlled member.

However, this circuit requires multipliers of the fourquadranttype which are somewhat complicated. Where a less exact velocity indication can be accepted a useful indication can be obtained by processing the signals by the method illustrated schematically in Figure 2. This gives an indication of velocity and direction according to the function a t V= constant; X[B-%%A (1) V approx constant X[%?.sign (B) %?lsign (11)] where (A) and (B) may be +1, -,-1 or 0 where A and B may have a positive value, a negative value or zero value respectively. The justification of this approximation can beshown mathematically. as follows:

as indicated above, if V is taken to be constant over the 7 duration of one half cycle of the input signal then the mean value of 2 a F V Similarly the mean value of If the twoinput signals are adjusted so that a=b then r has a' mean value of The sign terms in Equation 2 ensure that successive half cycle mean values have the same polarity for one pargcular phase relationship of the two input signals A and is subtracted from the resultant signal has a mean value of bined at 14 with signalA to give an output of amplitude equal to the differentiated signal B and of polarity corresponding to that of the product of the differentiated signal B and signal A. r V

The two outputs, at terminals 15 and 16, are combined to give an approximate indication of the velocity andan exact indication of direction. 1 Detailed circuits corresponding to the schematic representation of Figure 2 are shown in Figure 3. The input signals A and B are obtained as above and are fed to the two input terminals 21, 21a. I

Signal A passes from the terminal 21 to the control grid of the pentode amplifying valve 22 via small capacitor 23. The signal developed across the anode resistor 24 is fed back to the control grid via a large blocking capacitor 25 and resistor 26. A resistor 27 connecting the control grid of 22 to the negative battery terminal 28 ensures f that the control grid potential of valve 22 is held at the potential of negative battery terminal 28. This circuit is a welljknown difierentiator circuit of the so-called .,The action of the circuit is such that the feedback the input signal B, which is obtained from'input terminals 21a via a transformer 36. Current is drawn from the secondary winding of transformer 36, so that when the upper terminal is positive it flows into the centre tap of the secondary coil 38, dividing into the coil halves, through the (semi-conducting) diodes 32 and 34 and being combined again at the junction of resistors 41 and 42. When the polarity of the current is reversed, diodes 33 and 35 conduct in a similar manner.

The output current from transformer 36 is made sufficiently large to ensure that each of the diode pairs is held in conduction during the relevant half cycle irrespective of the polarity of the differentiated signal currents from amplifier valve 30 impressed on the diodes via transformer 31, 37, 38. This results in the secondary windings 37, 38 of the transformer 31 being coupled to the output terminals 39 and alternately for each half cycle of the input wave form at terminals 21a.

' The windings 37 and 38 of the transformer 31, 37, 38 are wound in opposite senses so that the difierentiated signal appearing at the anode of valve 30 is reversed once'every half cycle of the input signal B applied to terminals 21a on its passage to the output terminals 39, 40 and the demodulator output is therefore unidirectional in nature for a given phase relationship between the input quadrature signals, i.e. while the movable member is moving in the same direction. If the movable member reverses its direction then the input signals in quadrature from the gratings are reversed in phase relat'onship and the phase relationship between the demodulator inputs is thus also reversed giving an output signal of the other polarity.

The signal B at input terminals 21a is treated in a' similar manner, the equivalent items in its section of the circuit in Figure 3 being given the same numbers as above with the addition of suffix a. The demodulatorforthis section of the circuit is supplied with an input from signal A via a transformer 36a.

The two signals occurring at the output terminals. 39, 40 and 39a, 40a are added together by connecting the outputs of the two demodulators together in series so as to give the required velocity indication. The amplitude of the indication will approximately represent the velocity and the polarity will accurately represent the direction of motion of the movable member.

The circuit asshown in Figure 3 is suitable for working with input frequencies of the approximate range of to 5,000 cycles per second, which corresponds to a velocity variation of 10021; The low frequency performance can be extended by replacing the transformers by virtually restrains the control grid. so that it can make only a very small potential excursion. Also the only current of consequence flowing in the input circuit will enter the amplifier stage" via capacitor 23 and then travel through resistor 26and blocking capacitor 25 to the anode of the? pentode valve. The input voltage will then be. developed almost-entirely across capacitor 23 and the output voltage alrnostentirely across resistor 26,since .the c apacity of blocking capacitor 25 is large.

, As thesignal current through the capacitor 23 is proportional to the first derivative of the capacitor voltage (with; respect to time) then the output voltage ,at the anodeof valve-22 will be the differentiated form ofthe input signal The differentiated signalis thenpas sed through blocking capacitor29 to thecontrol grid of a power amplifier tively. Diagram VILis the resultant velocity and direction signalbetween terminals 39a and '40 obtainedby' triode valve 30, the outputsignal from whichlpasses to v a transformer the 'primary'winding '31'of which is connected asthe anodefload of valveoo. Secondary windings 37. and 38 of the said transformer are connected to ademodulator. f v p s The demodulator consists offfou'risemi-conductor diodes 32, 33, 34 and '35 and compares the phasing of the-dif ne at s eis sli snfhe at mist-- 37, w th other items in a known manner, without affecting the principle of the invention. a a

In Figure 4' the two upper Diagrams I and II show typicalinput signals Aand B obtained'when the moving member. moves at a uniform velocity in one direction (x to y),"-.reverses at .y and thereafter'moves at a uniform velocity in the reverse direction (y to z). Diagrams III and IV are the differentiated signals appearing at an odes 30 and 30a. Diagrams vVand VIare the wave forms, of the outputs at terminals 39,40 and 39a, 40a, being the resultant of multiplying the signals ofthe Diagrams III and IV by the sign of the Diagrams 'II 'and I-respecadding Diagrams V'and VI. I

In further'explanation of Figure 4, it should be noted that the reversal of direction occurringat therpoint Y happensto take place at atime when theA signal is at 7 'zero amplitude, that-isto say when themoir fringe.

pattern produced byl a movement monitoring arrangementofthe diffraction grating type previously described is midwaybetween the darkest zone of a. fringe and the lightejst region between two; adjacent dark Tzonesi, If movement had continued time s amedirection as 'previouslyiit'would have brought the lightesflzonelohthe fringe pattern before the optical system q ie;eas',-?due 9 the change of direction movement subsequent to Y brings to take place at an instant -where'tl'ie lightest 'zoneof thefringe pattern is before the optical system so. that further I movement, in whichever direction, would be followed by a movement towards a dark zone of the fringe pattern. For this reason curve II of Figure4 does not record the change of direction. If the change of direction had happened say one-eighth of a cycle earlier or later both curves I and II would have recordedithe change of direction. The same applies to curves I, III andV and I1, IV and VI respectively.

The velocity of the monitored motion is reflected in the frequencies of the A and B signals and. as the slopes of the corresponding curves I and II around the zero amplitude, regions varies asthe frequency of the A and B signals, so the amplitude: o'futhe differentiated signals shown respectively in 'curves'III andr'IV'varies, as the frequencyof the Aand B; signals. respectively and is there-' fore proportional to the said velocity of motion. Similar variations of amplitude occurin thesucceeding curves V, VI and VII and in the case of the latter curve the vertical co-ordinates of the rippledparts of the curve (i.e. the amplitude) vary according to the velocity of the said motion and the polarity of these parts of the curve represents the direction of the said motion.

Iclaim:

1. Apparatus for indicating the velocity and direction of motion of a body relative to another body comprising a signal generator. actuated by relative motion of the said bodies to generate a first signal and a second signal each of sine wave form and, in substantially quadrature phase relationship with one another and a diiferentiator, means for feeding the said first signal to the differentiator, means for combining the output of the ditferentiato'r with the said second signal in a manner such as to produce a resultant signal having'an instantaneous amplitude equal to that of the differentiated first signal and having an instantaneous polarity corresponding to the polarity'of the product of the differentiated first signal and the second signal whereby the amplitude of the said resultant signal is a measure of the velocity and the polarity of the said resultant signal is an indication of thedirection of the said relative motion.

2. Apparatus for indicating the velocity and direction of motion of a body relative to another body comprising a signal generator, actuated by relative motion between the said bodies to. generatea firstqand a second signal each of sine wave form and in substantially quadrature phase relationship, a first 'diiferentiator and a second differentiator, means for feeding the said first signal to the first differentiator, means for combining the output of the first diiferentiator' with the, second signal to produce a first resultant signal having an instantaneous-amplitude proportional to that of the differentiated firsts'ignal and an instantaneouspolarity corresponding to that of the product of the differentiatedfir'stsignal and the second signal, means for feeding the said second signal to the second differentiator, means for combining the output of the second differentiator with the first signal to produce a second resultant signal having an instantaneous ampliof which output signal is a measure of thevelocity and the instantaneous polarity which output signal is an indication'of the direction of the said relative r'notionbetween the said bodies.

each of sine wave form and in substantially quadrature phase relationship, a first differentiator and a second differentiator, means for feeding the said firstrsignal to the first differentiator, a first'multiplier, means for combining the output from the first differentiato'r with the second signal in the first multiplier to produce a first resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitude proportional to that of the differentiated first signal and an instantaneous polarity corresponding to that of the product of the differentiated first signal and the second signal, means for feeding the said second'signal to the second diiferentiator, a second multiplier, means for combining the output from the second differentiator with the first signal in the multiplier to produce a second resultant signal having an instantaneous amplitude proportional to that of the differentiated secondp'signal, and an instantaneous polarity corresponding to that of the prodnet of the differentiated second signal and the first sig-' nal, means for combining the two resultant signals to give an output signal,.the instantaneous amplitnde-ofsaid output signal being a measure of the velocity of the multipliers each comprise a transformer having a primary winding coupled to one of the two difierentiators,

and two secondary windings, the one connected through rectifiers poled in the same direction to output terminals,

the other being connected to the said terminals through rectifiers poledin the same direction as one: another but both poled in the opposite direction to that of, the'two first-mentioned rectifiers,.the two said secondary windings being connected to the said, terminals in such a sense that a current flowing in this, primary winding produces a. potential at an end of one of the secondary windings which is of opposite polarity to'the potential produced at an end" of the other secondary winding, which said ends are connected, through'rectifiers as aforesaid to one of the said terminals, and means for applying the first signal to the rectifiers of the second multiplier and for applying the second signal to the rectifiers of the first multiplier to bias such rectifiers was to connect one of the two secondary windings of each of the transformers to the said terminals according to the polarity of the signal applied to the rectifiers.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the said signal generator comprises closely ruled gratings, one mounted on one body, the other mounted on the other body, with the rulings of one' grating ata small angle relative to the rulings of the other grating so that moir fringes are produced when a beam of light ispassed through both gratings, two optical systems comprising at least one light source which may be common to the two systems and each comprising a photo-electric cell, the light from said light source passing through the said gratings and falling on the sensitive elements offeaclt photo-electric cell, the parts of the moir fringe pattern presented to the two. photo-electric 'cells being, spaced apart alongthe direction of the rulings ofthe said gratings bya n interval substantiallyequal to one quarter of the distance'between adjacent moir fringes, relative motionof the bodies causing the movement of said moir fringes in the direction of the rulings of the, said gratings whereby .two sine wave output signals are pro,

3. Apparatus" for indicating the velocity and direction of motion of a body relative to another body comprising a signalgenerator actuated'by relative motionbetweep the said two: bodies to generate a first and'a second signal ducedby the two'p'hoto-electric cells.

References Citedfin the file of this patent r V 'UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,857,802 can 4.----- Oct, 2s'; 1958 2,861,345 Spencer Nov; 25; 1958 2,880,512 Fenemoreijet a1: jApr. 8*,1959 2 86,717," Williamsonet al. :May 12; 1959 

